Awake, by Soham Sevak

“Awake” is a short choice-based work about a shadowy research group and the fallout from its work.

Gameplay: The plot of the game involves the protagonist, a researcher in the group, having to make a decision about the future of his work. It hits the most prominent tropes in this kind of horror: the researcher having second thoughts about his work; amoral superiors keeping him in the dark about the overall project; hints of stranger and more nefarious developments in the research; and so on. Given that and its length, the game feels very generic. The overall impression of the game as a work of conspiracy-based horror or cautionary sci-fi is strong, but there aren’t many memorable specific details in it. 3/10.

Mechanics: There are few genuine choices in the game; most simply advance to the next page of static text. Replaying the game, I didn’t find that making different choices had much effect on the plot. 3/10.

Presentation:The text of the game succeeding in evoking the genre of the game, but I didn’t find anything really remarkable in it. The characters were stock ones, but they seemed realistic and believable. It’s also worth noting that the game promises future installments in the story, which may flesh out the plot and characters. 3/10.

You might be interested in this game if: You’re a fan of “The X-Files.”